that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. >> good evening, americans. coming to you from high atop democracy plaza. 48 hours until the election. thousands of americans voted today as mitt romney's team is trying to talk their way to a championship. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> this is what democracy looks like. team romney thinks they have it all locked up. >> it looks like the map is starting to expand drastically in our favor. >> the spin from the right just keeps oncoming. tonight, richard wolffe and jonathan alter have the latest on a massive day on the campaign trail. plus all the latest on a bizarre day of early voting in florida. the romney campaign finally addresses their lie. and karen finney responds to the

righties who blame hurricane sandy for mitt romney's rough finish. >> the hurricane is what broke romney's momentum. >> good to have you with us tonight. folks, thanks for watching. the days are racing by and time is running out. mitt romney needs something short of a miracle in the worst way. romney went to clooeflds today to project strength. in the choice of the american people can lead to one of two very different destinations. if the president were to be reelected -- [ booing ] >> it's possible, but not likely. >> romney's running mate paul ryan is trying to complete a hale mary pass in wisconsin. he was tailgating with packer fans today at lambeau field. then it was off to ohio as well.

>> two more days. just two more days. two more days. this is one of those elections we will think back at and look at for years. >> the national polling average has president obama on top by just half a point. romney isn't as close in the states where the election is going to be decided. in paul rooip's home state of wisconsin, the president leads by an average of more than four points. president obama has kept a stead zi two-point lead in nearby iowa. in ohio the president's lead has not diminished in recent weeks. the obama campaign isn't leaving anything for chance in the buckeye state. he also sate down with my colleague, chris matthews. >> what do you think is going to happen? >> i think we're going to win clearly.

i think we're going to win this state, ohio. i've been here 23, 24 days, something like that. i think we're going to win iowa, we're going to win wisconsin. we're going to win informed. we're going to win new hampshire. we have an even chance of winning virginia and florida. it could be a big win. don't just vote. knock on the door of the neighbors. the middle class depends on it. it literally depends on it. >> the vice president took on his latest lie. >> scared the heck out of these people. and it's flat false. this is the most cynical play. there's an editorial in the denver post saying this goes to character.

it's not just a lie. but it goes to character. >> most of the attention is on ohio, a record breaking crowd gathered in concord, new hampshire. president obama was joined by one of the best retail politicians in the business, former president bill clinton. >> 20 years and nine months ago new hampshire began the chance for me to become president. i have worked very hard in this campaign. [ cheering ] i worked hard in the last one, too. i did 40 events for the president. hillary did 70. but i want you to know something. i'm much more enthusiastic now than i was then. >> as the campaign gets down to the final hours president obama wants his supporters to know he hasn't lost any of his drive. >> new hampshire, i'm here today because i'm not ready to give up on the fight.

i know i look a little older, but i have a lot of fight left in me. i am not ready to give up on the fight, and i hope you aren't either, new hampshire. >> the obama campaign has the latest poll number on the sides. the best way for mitt romney to squeeze out a victory is if people don't vote. keep in mind, ohio republican secretary of state has cut back early voting hours. rick scott cut the number of early voting from 14 doing to 8. giving us lines that look like this. one polling place in miami-dade county shut down temporarily because workers could not meet the demand. every vote will be important in the election. one side seems intent on making

sure not everyone gets to vote. get your cell phones out. we want to know what you think tonight. can voter suppression win for mitt romney? text "a" for yes or "b" for no. joining me tonight, first is ben levolt, national press secretary for the 2012 campaign. very bold prediction tonight by the vice president in his interview with my colleague, chris matthews. do you believe the electoral college is not going to be that close? is the obama team that confident tonight? >> at the end of the day it all comes down to turnout. in a state like nevada, more than 70% will vote by election day we have a 70,000 vote lead there. we have more than 100,000 vote advantage in the bank at this time. we signed up more than 6,600

volunteer shifts for the get out the vote program. it all comes down to turnout in the final hours. >> well, you have the turnout, it looks like. if these early voting hours have been cut, how much concern is that to you? >> well, we have a voter protection team on the ground and right here in chicago that took quick action in florida yesterday. miami-dade and palm beach announced early voting tomorrow. so we're going to make sure that everybody's vote counts. if you're in line, stay in line. we're going to make sure it happens through the final hours. >> the romney campaign says it has numbers showing that they're going to win ohio. is that a bluff?

>> well, i think we heard a lot of bluffing from the romney campaign for days that says they have an intensity advantage on their side. look no further than the fact that mitt romney spent the day in the state of pennsylvania. he's desperately searching for a new pass to 270. he's not comfortable with his position in ohio. if he was, he wouldn't be lying to auto workers across the state, saying that their jobs are going to be shipped overseas. they know they're down in ohio. they're desperately searching for a new pass. >> all right. ben, good to have you with us tonight. thank you so much. let's turn to richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst and vice president executive editor of msnbc.com. jonathan alter also with us tonight. msnbc political analyst. gentlemen, great to have you with us. richard, you first.

the romney campaign is selling hard that they have got a path to victory even through ohio. your reaction? >> well, you can poll all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. at some time the wheels fall off. it wasn't in play for bush in 2004. it's not going to be in play now. and the numbers that you're seeing in the early votes, they may not hold up in the sense the republicans think they'll have a better turnout on the the day. but it says a lot about the ground game that chicago has been talking about for a long time. it's what they built in iowa back in 2007. the clinton folks didn't bloef it then. >> jonathan alter, you've been on the ground in iowa in the last 24 hours. enthusiasm, who has it? >> i think they both have it. i agree pennsylvania is a bluff. but ohio is close. and it is within the margin of error. and the republicans in the rural conservative counties have pretty good organization. the evangelicals will come out

strong for romney. so obama has a lot of advantages it's one of the area where is people are switching to obama rather than away. but there are some other demographic groups where there has been some slippage for obama. and i think this one is really genuinely going down to the wire. >> well, cuyahoga county. there are 12,000 votes off of early voting from where they were in 2008. now if that's a micro kochl for the state, what does it mean? >> well, early voting favored obama and ohio in 2008. mccain won the state on election day. obama carried the state comfortable bli, but not on election someday.

>> here is romney today in iowa talking about people getting handouts. >> paul and i have not promised you a bigger check from the government. and we haven't promised to take from some people to redistribute to you. >> your response. is this another last ditch effort to appeal to sentiment? >> at this point even a dog whistle doesn't breakthrough. there's too much white noise out there. what matters at this point is the ground game. it's can you find the right people? the republican playbook is they have the intensity. there are enough people who hate the president that they will show up anyway. you're seeing two very different philosophies of how you get people to go out and vote. the obama campaign is trying to find the actual individual to

vote. you still have to have people go out and vote. this is a long way from being over. but if you have the organization, the bet is, and they showed it before in 2008, the bet is you can go out and get the votes. >> i sense more confidence in ohio than you, jonathan. >> there's two dozen battleground polls in the state. in all of them romney hasn't come up ahead. >> i'm not being pessimistic about ohio, i'm just being cautious. it's true the polls get more accurate the closer you get to an election. they're not accurate at all a year or two out or even a month or two out. at this point the track record is pretty good. i was talking to identical twins in perry, ohio, yesterday. they were working for obama in lake county, ohio, in 2008. they say the organization is significantly better this year than 2000. >> the pugh research poll came out, romney had a 19-point advantage.

now it's down to nine. medicare, is that story breaking for the obama team? richard? >> well, those pew numbers are -- first of all, i think you've seen the one last ship in the campaign with the president's response to the hurricane that affected voters across the demographic. even into the romney campaign. >> romney right now is polling as the favorite. i'm not sure the medicare message cut that deeply. >> okay. richard wolffe, jonathan, great to have you gentlemen with us. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on twitter and on facebook. we want to know what you think. coming up, the lines are long but the voters aren't backing down. why florida's governor is refusing to help out. this is the ed show live from democracy plaza. we're coming right back. stay with us. ♪

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>> coming up, the lathest from the ground in florida where the republican rick scott is doing everything he can to keep people from voting. then the romney campaign has broken their silence on their deceptive jeep advertising. teamsters president james hoffa is here with reaction. and today was a big day on the trail. tomorrow will be even bigger. howard fineman is talking to both campaigns tonight, and he will join us later. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter.

welcome back to the ed show. thanks for watching tonight. long lines, short tempers and lots of confusion tonight. over early voting in the state of florida. voters report standing in line for four, five, six, even seven hours to cast a ballot in south florida this weekend. these are working people who say they can't take off work to get to the polls on tuesday. but governor rick scott, he doesn't care. he refused to extend voting hourses. he doesn't want anybody to vote today. so civil rights advocates filed suits and judges in five counties in the state of florida went over the governor's head and extended voting hours. hundreds of people lined up in miami-dade. just after two hours, election officials said they didn't have enough resources and they locked the doors. the voters started chanting. >> let us vote!

>> election officials brought in another ballot printer and more staffers so that they could reopen for a few more hours. miami-dade, broward and palm beach counties say they'll accept ballots tomorrow. still voting in florida has become a serious challenge. >> look at this mess. >> no, it ain't no mess. >> i've been in this line for seven hours. i got here at 7:30 in the morning. and i was finally done at 2:30 or 2:40. >> both jeb bush and charlie crist extended voting hours when they were governor, but rick scott refuses. the republican mayor of miami and top republicans in tallahassee say these voters don't need an extension.

you believe that? they say they don't need an extension. if there's one thing we can't do in the country, it's vote properly. this is america. you mean to tell me with all the internet technology and communications skills and resources at our fingertips, this is what america looks like? in a very important election. and you're going to tell me we can't do better than this? washington ought to fix this no matter who wins. maybe they're hoping the democrats just will go home. they don't want to wait in line anymore. joining me tonight, mitch sezer. he's also on the executive board of the democratic committee as a representative of the 14 southern states. i mean, it's great to have you with us tonight. but it just infuriates me when i see video tape like that. i mean, we vote like a third world country. >> well, welcome to ground zero. homeland of rick scott. i will expand the bid and tell you that folks who got online before 7:00, those people had a

process by either midnight or 1:00 a.m. this morning. these are people who want their dmok, want the right to vote, and what's standing in their way, as you said, is governor rick scott. >> why is he doing this? why isn't he saying we're going to exhaust every effort we can to make sure there's democracy. i know the answer to it. i want to hear yours. >> it's obvious democrats do well in early voting. statistics prove it. also minorities, especially in south florida tend the vote. originally there twr two early vote days cut in half to repent minority votes. specifically african-american kmurj goers wo would march to the polls. you know, it's interesting ed. it's an amazing coincidence. all the republicans governors came up with the ideas,

presumably individually about two years ago. and yet it all seemed to come together for them. obviously tl no coincidences in politics. there are none in life. >> i have said all along that i think south florida is the bread basket of victory for president obama in the state of florida. but as far as the number of people coming out do you see it equals that in 2008? >> well, i think it's running relatively close. i will give you a statistic that is not public in broward county. when you up all the early voting in 2008, by the close of the polls tuesday night, broward county will equal but probably probably surpass 2008 totals for early and absentee voting. in spite of governor rick scott. >> well, excellent point. i also see that rick scott is also appeared with mitt romney one time in the last nine

months. why is that? >> well, obviously he's radio active here. he's the invisible man politically. mitt romney may change his mind every other day. the one thing he hasn't changed his mind about is never appearing on the same stage as rick scott. this guy is toxic. i chatted with him. he is just home. he's a returning veteran. he was very angry. he was online for three or four hours already and said i don't mind suing for the country and fighting for the country. i don't appreciate having to fight for my rights to vote. >> thanks for joining us tonight. appreciate it so much. next up, the romney camp finally responds to their lie about cheap outsourcing jobs to china, and it's not pretty. teamster's president james hoffa will weigh in and have the latest on the ground from ohio. and a few days ago karl rove

predicting victory for romney. hear what excuse he came up with to save his hide. you're watching the ed show coming to you live in democracy plaza in new york city.

welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney's campaign can't answer for their completely false jeep to china advertising blitz, and it's a blitz. romney has been running bo gus radio and tv ads in ohio they claim because of the auto loan. the claim is a lie. chrysler ceo says jeep production is staying in the state of ohio and called the commercials inaccurate. romney's political director was asked about st lie for the first time today, and his response was embarrassing. the fact is that chrysler far from chipping jobs go to ohio with actually expanding operations in toledo. >> well, i found it interesting that president obama would attack governor romney hon that when they put up an ad saying that governor romney says let detroit go bankrupt when that's

a headline from "the new york times" op-ed. >> just another classic nonanswer from the romney campaign. "the new york times" did pick the title of the op-ed, but romney wrote if the auto companies get a loan, quote, you can kiss the american automotive industry good-bye. the substance is all the same. romney did not want to help detroit with a loan. he has made that very clear more than once. >> there's no question that if you just write a check that you're going to see the companies go out of business ultimately. >> you said if general motors, ford and chrysler get the bail out that the chief executives ask for yesterday you can kiss it good-bye. >> that's exactly right. if you write a check they're going to go out of business. his response wasn't much better. >> david, i've not seen the ad. i've just heard it. apparently not running it in virginia. i've not seen the ad. >> he's not seen the ad. he doesn't know anything. apparently one of the highest ranking members of congress isn't paying any attention to the presidential race.

you believe that? for more, let's turn to james hoffa, mr. hoffa, good to have you with us tonight. >> good to be here. >> you get. what do you make of the romney campaign's inability to speak directly to the commercials that they are running in the state of ohio. >> well, i think it really shows a desperation. as the race gets closer to the end, i think that the romney campaign is getting desperate to run the jeep ad and be repudiated by the ceo of chrysler. it's so embarrassing. it's not true, and he continues to run the ad. just more lies. they're not going to move the jeeps to china. they're going to keep making them in toledo, where i'm going to be campaigning. so i don't know what is the purpose of lying like that. it's just more of the same, and it hurts his credibility, and it shows a certain desperation setting in as we only have two

more days in the campaign. >> mr. hoffa, we're showing pictures of president obama live in cincinnati at a rally. making the final pitch to the i know you've been on the ground in ohio. outcome? >> well, i was there all last i'm going back in the morning. i'll be back in by 9:00 in the morning. we're going to be campaigning there. i think it's upbeat right now. there's a lot of enthusiasm. i was with the president on thursday. he has tremendous bounce in his step. tremendous confidence. all kind of people are walking up. i was impressed by what i saw. people, black people, latinos. every type of american was coming to the rally. people were bringing the children, taking them out of school because it was such an event. it was very moving to see the type of people who attended the event. that's the deep seeded enthusiasm that will carry the day in ohio. >> in ohio are the voters or

them, do they bring up the automobile fiasco that romney has gotten himself into? ohio senator rob portplan was also asked about the jeep lies today and here is his response. >> the fact is we now make jeeps here in toledo, ohio, that we're proud to send to china, to asia. we export 25% of what we make here. if they're going to start facilities overseas, we're going to lose the exports here. that's all the ad said. >> chrysler said they are spanding production in ohio. what do the residents of ohio say to you? what are you hearing? >> well i think people are disgusted with this. the truth is the ceo of chrysler said we're not going to do it. i don't know what else you can say. but it's the kind of fear they're trying to put in people to undermine president obama. you're hearing it and don't forget in ohio one in eight jobs is related to the auto industry.

there's a lot of good things going on in ohio. people are going back to work. they're putting on third shifts in the auto plants. so there really is a resurgence going on. for him to try to put water on something that's a positive thing, a spinout of the fact that we did restore the auto industry. we saved ford, chrysler and general motors. for him to be on the wrong side of that, the answer is he can shut up and stop telling the lies. >> finally, labor is so important to the president's reaction and his work in ohio to deliver the buckeye state. write to work legislation is where tlomz wants to go. how dangerous is that to you? >> well, it's one of the things we talk about. when we rally people and go talk to them.

we have strong unions in ohio. and he is basically on record for the whole country wants the national right to work. he wants to get rid of the minimum wage. he wants to get rid of any type of idea of working wages is to protect people. >> and no candidate has gone down that road to my knowledge. no, he's on the website. they're all gone now because of the tea party. now they're talking about the national right to work. that gets people up in arms. and mitt romney doesn't see the difference. he goes on and he talks very boldly about this, not realizing that it's really the third rail when it comes to campaigning and it comes to the labor. >> mr. hoffa, good to have yo with us on the ed show. thanks so much. president obama got bipartisan praise to his reaction of the hurricane. karen finney and e.j.dion join me next. the campaigns have one nor day to convince voters.

find out where they're fcusing their attention in the final hours. stay with us. you're watching the ed show from democracy plaza. [ female announcer ] with swiffer wet, a better clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done! [ chuckles ] sweet [ female announcer ] swiffer's wet mopping cloths can clean better than mops in half the time swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back.

we got ideas that work. and we got ideas that don't work. and so the choice should be pretty clear. but governor romney is a very talented salesman. and so in this campaign, he's tried as hard as he can to repackage the old ideas that didn't work as new ideas. in fact, he's offered them up as change. says he's a candidate of change. >> president obama speaking live

in cincinnati, ohio. what a difference a week makes. not too long ago confident republicans were already planning to attend mitt romney's inauguration. dick morris wrote about a coming romney landslide. but all the sudden morris changed his tune. on friday he wrote about sudden danger signs in the polls for mitt romney. karl rove has raised millions for romney through his american crossroads super pac. he wrote a wall street editorial saying romney will win at least 279 electoral votes. now he's blaming sandy for a romney life. david pluff wasn't buying rove's excuses. >> i think karl rove may have said that because a few days ago he predicted a big romney win. and my since is karl will be at a cross roads himself on tuesday when he tries to explain to the people who wrote him hundreds of millions of dollars why they fell up short. >> all across the air waves

republicans are running behind rove's latest talking point. >> the hurricane is what broke romney's momentum. >> you think that as well. >> i don't think there's any question about it. >> on fox news they called the latest polling into question. >> i think it's unlikely that, you know, it's hard to imagine that all these polls are far off. but the discrepancy is unmistakenable and puzzling. >> once again, karl rove was more than happy to be in denial. >> we don't know how close some of these are because again, i think brit made an excellent point, the quality of the state level polls is questionable. >> former bush strategist took a look inside the mind of these republican spinmeisters. >> the first thing is don't believe the public polls are wrong.

the second thing is we're going to change the nature of the electorate and you're not seeing it reflect fld the polls. and the only thing that counts is election day. when you hear those things you know you're about to lose. >> i'm joined tonight by karen finney. also with us tonight, e.j. deon, msnbc contributor, "washington post" columnist and author of the book "our divided political heart." great to have both of you with us tonight. are guys like karl rove protecting their political futures here and trying to save face? what do you think? >> of course. remember just before the first debate when you started to hear some of the romney staffers, you know, when romney wasn't doing well and there were stories about i haven't been in the meetings and so i'm not really in charge. again, people trying to distance themselves. that's exactly what rove is trying to do. and the thing that's so shameful is think about the difference that it would have made for governor romney if he would have come out and said, you know, this is a time when every american needs to get behind the president. we need to think about the people affected by this storm, instead of trying to split hairs and figure out a way to

politically get a little bit of juice out of it while still trying to seem like he was being presidential. i think he would have done a lot better if he would have gotten on board earlier. >> e.j., is there any validity to blaming the hurricane for the election result? how much impact will sandy have in this election? >> well, first of all, president obama should be grateful karen isn't advising the romney campaign because that was good advice to him. it's easier to blame a hurricane than to blame your own ideas. a hurricane can cause a lot of damage, but a hurricane can't talk back. i think what they are trying to do right now is prepare an alibi so they don't have to acknowledge keeping their own ideas lost if president obama wins. president obama ran on some very clear things. he said government has a role to play in regulating the market and education and

infrastructure. he said, let's not voucherrize medicare. the republicans don't want to acknowledge that these are the right ideas, so they're going to blame a hurricane. >> new jersey governor chris christie addressed all the complaints that he has been taking from the right wing because he's been working with president obama. here he is. >> this shows you how broken our political system is. because i say something nice about someone who does their job well, somehow that takes away my -- that takes away my endorsement of mitt romney? >> it doesn't take away his endorsement, but karen don't you think he went a little bit overboard? it was gushing for days on end. it takes away the narrative from the romney camp that president obama is not doing a good job.

>> you know, that's true. if you've ever been, and i know both of you have, if you've been to places devastated by a natural disaster like that, people are so grateful. it's so emotional that i'm not surprised that the governor was so gushing. and frankly the president and his administration did do a good job. i think there's another point on this that i think we should make. this is not a cya move for karl rove and other guys. where i come from, we would call this a punk move. this is trying to delegislate miz a win president obama. then the bureau of labor statistics, we think they're messing around with the numbers. now it's the storm sandy and it's governor christie being too -- of the president. when you are groping for excuses, that's time to look at yourself and say maybe people weren't buying what we were selling. >> finally, e.j., tonight, the

48 hours leading up to the polls closing, how good has the obama team been? >> so far except for that one debate, they've run a very good campaign. they took away from mitt romney his central calling card, which is my experience at bain capital prepares me to run a country. they ran a better convention than the republicans did. i think you'll see it on turnout. one of the problems with the national polls is they have underestimated what will be the share of the electorate made up of african-americans and latinos. and we're going to see that on tuesday. we'll see if i'm right about that. if so, it's partly because of the determination of the communities and partly because they had a great organization on the ground. >> e.j. dionne, karen finney,

great to have you on we us. still ahead, mitt romney makes an interesting strategic decision tonight. we'll talk about the plan for the final day before the election when we come back. you're watching "the ed show." we're coming to you live from democracy plaza. stay with us.

welcome back to the ed show, live from democracy plaza. we love hearing from our viewers on twitter @edshow and on our facebook page. we asked our twitter followers to share their early voting pictures. these two are from mike nanas and willette johnson who braved the long lines in florida. this is desiree who joined her family to cast her first vote for the first time ever in texas. and paul long checked in from north carolina to show us how long the voting lines actually are in the tar heel state. thanks for sharing and keep

sharing your photos with us. coming up, it's crunch time for the candidates. howard fineman joins me for a look ahead. what's the next 24 hours of campaigning going to be like? stay with us.

and we are back live from democracy plaza in rockefeller center here in new york. and if you're in new york city around the area tomorrow, i'll be broadcasting my radio show live from the msnbc experience here at democracy plaza. i'll do the third hour of the show starting at 2:00 p.m. glad to have you come out.

come out and say hi and share your thoughts with us about the election. we hope to see you here. and tonight in our survey we asked, can voter suppression win the election for plom? 29% of you said yesterday. 71% of you said no. coming up, what are the candidates doing in the final day of this election? find out what their schedules say about their campaigns when we come back. you're watching "the ed show" live from democracy plaza. we put a week's worth of bad odors in a home. some aerosols may just mix with them.

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we're headed to the final push of the 2012 presidential campaign. the president is ending the day in broward county, florida. miami singer pit bull introduced the president along with former republican governor charlie crist. 25,000 people attended the rally. the president is less than a point behind. mitt romney, he campaigned with his wife in cleveland, ohio, today where he is trailing the president. romney also stopped in des moines, iowa, today. he is trailing the president there by at least two points, and the president made an earlier stop in new hampshire. he spoke at a rally in concord. the president is leading by at least two points there, but he's asking voters to help out over the next 48 hours. >> if you're willing to turn out for me, we'll win new hampshire. we'll win this election. we'll finish what we started. >> oh, it's been a long campaign trail. listen to the voices. let's bring in howard fineman,

nbc news political analyst and editorial director of the huffington post media group. there's real different things happening down the stretch of this campaign. what are they? >> tomorrow there's going to be a battle of the bands, literally, in columbus, ohio, where the obama campaign and the romney campaign will almost run into each other. the president will have bruce spring teen with him. i'll leave it up to the pollsters to figure out who comes ahead this in that one. it is the cross roads of america, the cross roads of the campaign. the president will basically end his campaign in des moines, iowa, in the state that really launched his presidential career. >> is he in good shape in iowa? >> i think the president is in good shape in iowa. in the last 48 hours you are where you go. plopz was in iowa.

he's not going back. he's not going back to nevada. he's not going back to iowa. and he's not going to pennsylvania again. which is significant because the obama campaign in the end didn't take the bait on pennsylvania. they are sending bill clinton there, but they are not sending the president there. >> what hasn't bill clinton done for barack obama? >> he was obama's great explainer. he was the obama whisperer in charlotte. and he's been a good friend and increasingly somebody that the president relies on. if the president wins re-election. i'm convinced that bill clinton's next job will be to help the president sell a budget deal to democrats who may not want to go along. that's almost a tougher job than getting the president reelected. >> are you worried about the voter suppression that is taking place in ohio? it seems to be much more intense in ohio. much more organized, county to

county, it looks like they have really done a job. the numbers are down. there they are off from 2008. >> cuyahoga county, we're talking about cleveland. democrats need a big turnout in cleveland in order to carry the state. i think, yes, the republicans are focused on the mechanics of this much more than the past. look at ohio. look at florida. those are the two states where we have to look. do they extend voting hours? do they put rules in that really make it difficult? there will be lawyers all over the place. every presipgt in florida and ohio in particular. if it's close. if it's down to the wire. expect lawsuits. expect all kinds of stuff happening. it could be a late night on tuesday. >> what is the rather strange strategy of paul ryan speaking in minnesota neither have been there for mine months. >> this is the romney campaign looking along the line. they couldn't penetrate through the middle, which is ohio, i don't think. i think the president will fight them to a standstill there.

they're looking to go around the sides. pennsylvania, minnesota, two states that still belong in the democratic column, i think. >> is president obama good for the down ballot? >> i mean, the economy, 32 months. private sector job growth a lot of americans are going to get the benefits of health care. the country, where we were and where we are now is he good material? >> ed, i think the democrats would like to think so, but i don't think so. i think these two candidates, romney and obama, have been fighting a war of attrition that's about them and about their view of the counted. i think a lot of people are going to split their ballots. they're not going to vote straight party. people don't do that anymore. that shows more gridlock in washington. whoever is electinged president will have a hard time solving. >> how did the steelers do today? >> the steelers were magnificent. >> i've heard enough. >> howard fineman, thank you for joining us.